They think we're all idiots

I am sorry to go on about Tara.
But every day, more of it is being ruined, every day, more of it is bulldozed away.
Soon, I'll stop writing about Tara, because it will be no more.

***

Politicians think we're all idiots.
That is why they do what they do.
It's why, in Ireland, they have given themselves 22 pay rises in 10 years.
It's why they spend millions building facilities for themselves at Leinster House, a place from which they are absent for half the year.
It's why they don't have to verify their expense for the taxman, why they transformed Leinster Lawn into a carpark and why, despite being told what they did is illegal, they won't put it back.
It's why they actually believe we respect them.
This week, Environment Minister John Gormley did a little question and answer session with himself.
It's always easy to do an interview with yourself, because you don't tend to ask yourself the hard questions.
So it is the softest of soft interviews.
That's why, I've done the whole thing again.
And this time, instead of their being no journalist present, there was no John Gormley present. The questions are the same except for the last six. The answers are all different, bar one.

****

Can the Minister change the route of the M3 motorway?

Of course he can. In the same way the law was changed to allow IKEA build their big furniture shop, the Minister could change the law to protect the entire Gabhra Valley. Well, he could. But Fianna Fail won’t let him.
 
Why does the Minister not impose such a preservation order?

Because he’s using the same trick Fianna Fail has been using from the start to make sure the Gabhra Valley is opened up for the development of DIY stores and hotels and car showrooms. He’s looking at each archaeological find inndividually instead of doing what virtually every architect in the world - bar those employed by the NRA and his department - suggest, and that it to consider the entire area as one, huge, important archaeological area.
 
What about Lismullin. Why does the Minister not impose a preservation order on that site as it has been declared a national monument?

Don’t really know. His deparment has refused, despite numerous requests, to reveal what legislation prevents him overruling Dick Roche’s decisions, it has refused to reveal why, if Roche’s decision was quasi-judicial, it can’t be appealed, and it has refused to say why he won’t bring in amending legislation. His department is also happy to take advice from the Attorney General Paul Gallagher who acted for Meath Co Council against protesters who wanted the road stopped. While there is no suggestion Mr Gallagher gave other than independent advice, it would be prudent, wouldn’t it, to get a second opinion.
 
What advice has Minister Gormley received on Lismullin?

Fair enough, Lismullen is too fragile to keep. On it’s own. Yet again, a refusal to consider the entire area as one archaeological treasure.
 
What exactly is at Lismullin?

The surviving elements of the Lismullin monument consist of two outer circles and one inner circle of stakeholes (indentations in the ground) (15 - 20 cm in diameter). These stakeholes provide evidence for the existence in the past of a circular enclosure (80 m in diameter) with a smaller inner central enclosure (16 m in diameter). Two further rows of stakeholes show evidence of an entrance and passageway from the outer enclosure to the inner enclosure. These archaeological features have been heavily truncated by ploughing in the past. The surviving features are shallow and fragile. The soil in which the stakeholes are located is particularly light and sandy. There is no structure above ground. (This is the one genuine answer)
 
What is John Gormley doing to protect our archaeological heritage?

Shag all. No. That’s not fair. He’s talking a lot. But as he does, Tara is being destroyed. He will no doubt make a big thing about it when he finally shuts the door long after the horse has bolted or the bike's been stolen or whatever.
 
 
Is the real reason he’s doing nothing to save Tara, that the Greens sold out on the issue to get their two senior and one junior ministries?

Whart do you think?

Will his decision to insist that anyone seeking to develop along the M3 in the Tara area must seek planning permission, make any difference?

Whart do you think?

Will we eventually see warehouses and hotels and factories and retail parks in the Gabhra Valley?

Whart do you think?

Is getting chewing gum off our streets more important than saving our heritage?

Whart do you think?

Is this whole ‘riding a bike to work’ nonsense, just to distract us from the fact that the Greens have sold out and that they are of the belief that having power is more important than actually doing anything with it?

Whart do you think?

Will Paddy Murray vote Green again?

Whart do you think?

(The version of this on my blog www.everydayispaddysday.blogspot.com includes the original, ridiculous, version of the minister's interview with himself.)